Robert Taylor: Star of the Month

[movieman1957]

Back in the 70's I was, and still am, strategically located between Baltimore and DC so we had plenty of stations to watch. That is a relative term but it was probably close to 12. Some of the independent stations showed movies and reruns. The PBS stations, mostly in DC showed a lot of movie foreign films as well. I remember the Janus Collection logo come up. I watched a ton of movies back then. It seemed like everyone but NBC was running movies late on Saturday so I had plenty to watch.

Even then you didn't have commercial breaks that lasted almost as much as the movie between them.

[JackFavell]

Oh yes... it was NET before PBS! I do remember that!

And that is what I remember of PBS as well =-- the Janus logo!I still get a thrill when I see it.

[MissGoddess]

Is Janus the one with the hot looking guy banging the gong? I like that one, too.

I used to get WGN when I had cable in L.A. and I've never had it since. WGN, along with AMC (my cable did not carry TCM at the time) and believe it or not, the A&E network, were my prime televised sources for movies.

I find it baffling that in NYC (Time Warner) I couldn't get WGN, but in California I did. Weird.

[JackFavell]

WGN is now mostly old reruns of Cheers and such. I flip past it occasionally on my cable system, when there isn't anything on TCM....

I wish A&E would change it's name to the forensics and murder channel... they used to really be Arts and Enterntainment, but not anymore.

I still have VHS tapes of AMC stuff somewhere.... I think Ronald Colman with six early talkies and maybe some other precodes.

[MissGoddess]

A&E were the only network to air certain SUPER SUPER obscure movies I've looked for ever since, and only recently found through collectors. They used to be as you say, about arts and entertainment, now it's just unrecognizable. Like the Food Network, Animal Planet and Travel Channel now air more and more of these weird reality shows that all look alike.

[JackFavell]

I feel terrible in the morning when my daughter watches "Funniest Animal Videos" before school. Luckily she is old enough now to watch a commercial without getting freaked out.

They have these really horrifying, JAWS like commercials on in between for some terrible reality show about dangerous animals. I pity the poor little kids watching the benign videos, who are suddenly assaulted with visions of animals tearing things apart with their giant teeth. Sheesh. Do I really have to tell them that little kids are probably the only ones watching Funniest Animal Videos?

[movieman1957]

Forever ago when my son was about three he got up from the living room and said to me "I'll be right back....after theses messages." Commercials never bothered him.

[MissGoddess]

You're so right about those commercials on Animal Planet, Jackie! They scare even me! We've come a long way from gentle Marlin Perkins. You know, back when TV networks had respect for childhood...

[jdb1]

Is Janus the one with the hot looking guy banging the gong? I like that one, too.

I used to get WGN when I had cable in L.A. and I've never had it since. WGN, along with AMC (my cable did not carry TCM at the time) and believe it or not, the A&E network, were my prime televised sources for movies.

I find it baffling that in NYC (Time Warner) I couldn't get WGN, but in California I did. Weird.

No, the gong man is J. Arthur Rank Productions, the British studio. Janus had a black & white drawing of a head with two faces looking in opposite directions (from the Roman god Janus, who protected your front door).

I have Verizon cable and I get WGN, but I don't understand it. It's an actual TV station of long standing existence, and not one of those thrown together for cable things touting "American values" (by which they usually mean personal agenda)?

[MissGoddess]

I looked up the Chicago-based station online and learned it stands for "World's Greatest Network" because it is/was owned by the Chicago Tribune. All I remember is they used to air lots of old movies, with limited commercials. I guess it's gone to seed like every other station and network except TCM.

[ken123]

WGN used to be a great station for old Warner Bros. pics, back in the early 1960's it was 24 hours on the weekend and show one Warner film after another from 1am to 7am. Today it is, except for baseball, unwatchable, the Cubs & Sox are unwatchable, but in another sense. The late morning/early afternoon newscast ( 11am - 1pm CDT ) is amazingly bad.

[jdb1]

I haven't watched WGN all that consistently, but I suspect there may be a different feed for national/cable broadcasts. That's probably why I wasn't aware that it's a local Chicago station. It does, however, have the feel of a small local station, what with all the syndicated old stuff it shows.

I don't really even know if I'm still getting A&E, which I used to get from Cablevision. If we don't have it any more, I'm not missing it. Maybe we don't any more, since we get Ovation now.

I can't say that I have noticed any particulary good movies being shown on WGN.

It's still like that old song, only the number has changed: "Four zillion channels, and there's nothing on."

[ken123]

Back in the day, from the fifties to the eighties WGN was great for Warner and Fox films. WLS - TV , channel 7 for many years showed great RKO films after midnight, WBBM Channel 2 was the MGM station, along with some Fox ( NTA ) films.

[JackFavell]

That's right! Thanks Ken for reminding me of the all day WB films.... I thought it was one night a week, but it was actually all day Saturday or Sunday. Good Times.....

[ChiO]

I looked up the Chicago-based station online and learned it stands for "World's Greatest Network" because it is/was owned by the Chicago Tribune.

Was that on WGN's website, MissG? Actually WGN (so I always understood) stood for "World's Greatest Newspaper" because it was started by the Tribune. There are two WGNs in our satellite package -- one is the local WGN and the other, with slightly different programming, is what I assume to be the WGN for national consumption.

Then there's WLS, which was a great radio station and the current ABC network affiliate. WLS = World's Largest Store because it was started by Sears, Roebuck & Co.